This invention relates to extrusion equipment, and more particularly to a distributor of the flow of fluid materials under high pressure and at high temperature, especially of the flow of molten plastic material, in an extrusion installation, of the type including a distributor cylinder having a geometrical axis and traversed by at least one intake duct and one outlet duct, a distributor body lodged in the cylinder, at least one distribution duct contrived in the distributor body, and connecting an intake duct and an outlet duct in one position of the body, and drive means for causing the distributor body to rotate about the mentioned axis.
French Patent No. 1,277,313, U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,960, and German Patent No. 2,921,943 are examples of disclosures relating to the use of flow distributors attached to extrusion installations in the prior art. These patents show particularly that in the production of insulated electric wire or cable by extrusion of a sheath of plastic material onto a conductor, it is often desired to be able to modify the structure of the insulation rapidly without disturbing the operation of the line.
However, it is difficult to ensure the reliability of the prior art distributors since they must operate at high temperature and since the pressure of the molten plastic material often attains high values. Thus, pressures on the order of 1,100 bars are used in installations of this kind at the present time.